The present invention relates to a small-sized switch for use as a power supply switch on an electronic device, for example.
Prior small-sized switches have an actuator controllable to move a movable member pivotally up and down for bringing a movable contact into electric contact with a fixed contact. With such switches having the pivotally movable member, the actuator has to be moved in a relatively long stroke during operation, resulting in a cumbersome switching operation. Particularly, automatic control of the actuator requires a large-sized, complex arrangement for controlling the actuator. The conventional small-sized switches are also disadvantageous in that the movable member moves into and out of contact with the fixed contact at a relatively low speed, and hence a spark discharge is produced between the contacts when they are brought into and out of contact with each other. This causes the contacts to be deteriorated soon and have a short service life. To avoid such difficulties, it is necessary to reduce the current to be switched on and off by the switch. Where a relatively large current is to be handled, the contacts are required to be large in size. Accordingly, there have been available no small-sized switches capable of switching on and off relatively large currents.